Blissful Ignorance
by WindowChild
Summary: After 'Time Stands Still' Toby and Emma go to Manny's house.


A/N: I've always found it odd that Manny wasn't in "Time Stands Still", so here is my spin on her finding out.

"Come on." Emma quietly slipped her hand in Toby's and began pulling him away. She knew neither of them could spend another moment at the memorial without losing their minds. It was crowded with people mourning Jimmy, who wasn't even dead. _Yet._ But they didn't know him that well, so it wasn't the current pressing issue.

"Where are we going?" he asked after a while, sounding so entirely miserable that Emma wanted to stop and hug him.

"I don't know," she replied, her own voice just as weak. They walked a few more blocks, and she said, "Manny's. We'll go to Manny's."

Toby didn't have the energy to feel any more surprise, so he merely glanced in Emma's direction. "She doesn't know."

"Sick at home with the flu while your parents are out in the Bahamas. Would you be watching the news?"

He sniffled again, but didn't reply for a while. Then, "Are we going to tell her?"

Emma stared him down. "I think we should. I think it'd be best coming from us."

"I don't know if I can," his voice wobbled, and Emma let go of his hand and slid her arm through his. They'd do it together, at least.

"Don't you think our parents are worried?" Toby asked.

Emma shrugged. "Nothing else bad can happen tonight, the universe isn't that cruel." It wasn't such an answer, but Toby understood. For once there would be no chance of getting mugged or jumped, because too much had already happened. He actually thought their parents would worry more about their _mental_ states, but didn't say it. This was finally their moment. They could deal without the intrusive press or grieving seniors. For just a second, they could escape.

The remainder of the trip was in silence; neither of them commenting on their inability to calm down. Every sudden movement and sound sent them jumping, whether it was a backfiring car or a stray dog. They just gripped one another tightly, pretending they weren't about to pass out with fear.

"We're here," she said needlessly. They'd both been to Manny's thousands of times.

"Are you ready?" he asked her, gently squeezing her arm.

She sighed. "I guess so. Manny deserves to know, right?" It was her form of hesitation, but Toby nodded anyway. It seemed like the right thing to do.

"Manny?" Emma said, knocking on the door. Her foreign babysitter was probably already asleep.

"Emma?" came Manny's congested voice. They heard footsteps, and the door swung open. Manny's happy-but-under-the-weather expression relayed her lack of knowledge at once. She was smiling, too. "Oh, hey Toby. What are you guys doing here?"

"We just thought we'd come hang out for a little while," Emma said, instinctively lying. "Can we come in?"

Manny looked understandably confused. She and Emma hadn't been the best of friends lately, and she couldn't remember the last time Toby was at her house. But being Manny, she cheerfully letting them in the house. "I haven't had visitors all day. So tell me, what'd I miss?"

It was so on the nose that Toby felt tears prick at his eyes again. How could they tell her?

"That's what we wanted to talk to you about," Emma said shakily, diving in as always.

"What's wrong Em?" Manny asked, slightly alarmed. She then noticed Toby, tears silently dripping onto his shirt, and frowned. "Hey guys, what's going on?"

"Manny, there was a shooting," Emma said suddenly.

"What?" Manny said. It was the only natural reaction, after all.

"Rick," Toby said, looking up. "He shot Jimmy. And we don't know what's going to happen." He took off his glasses, mustering all his courage to tell the rest. "He pointed the gun at us, and at Sean."

"Oh my god," Manny breathed, grabbing each of their hands. "Are you guys-"

"Let him finish, Manny," Emma said tiredly, only wanting to get it over with.

"And he was going to shoot us," Toby continued, his voice squeaky. "But Sean – Sean grabbed the gun." He couldn't say the rest, looking at Emma desperately for help.

"Rick was about to shoot me," Emma replied, her voice stiff, as if she'd already thought it over too many times. "But Sean grabbed the gun and it went off. Rick's dead."

Manny thought of Spinner and how she should call him later, how she should probably be asking many more questions about Jimmy. But that didn't matter now, because her two best friends in the whole world were completely broken, and she wasn't, and it didn't seem fair that she should remain whole without them.

"I'm so sorry, you guys," she said tremulously. "Really." She reached for them, unable to bear it any longer.

They hugged, however awkwardly, and Toby and Emma cried on Manny's shoulders. She gently whispered things about how it would all be okay, even though she knew it wouldn't be. And it was hard for them of course, because know that Manny knew, there was nowhere for them to escape.


End file.
